(Newswire.net — July 11, 2022) —
“This isn’t a sexy example but it’s a good one,” he said.
More than 25 years ago, before Pilevsky got into real estate, his father built a small office building close to a residential neighborhood. The building was designed, approved, and built with a deeper than absolutely necessary basement. The initial use for the space called for office with no outside storage allowed.
Philip Pilevsky, Seth’s father, decided to build the basement out despite the prohibition against storage.
“I remember asking him, why did you bother? He told me that one day, in the future, we may get approvals to use the space for storage.”
Many years later, when Seth Pilevsky started working in the business, he decided to test his father’s theory and ask the municipality for approvals for storage.
The municipal approvals were relatively easy to acquire, and the modifications and conditions requested by the village were reasonable and easy to implement given his father’s pre-planning.
Whenever Pilevsky builds new, he always remembers the supposedly unnecessary basement his father built in that suburban office building.
“To this day, I make sure to build infrastructure into my projects with an eye towards future use,” Pilevsky said. “For example, instead of making one connection for electric and plumbing in a retail space, we usually make two or three, depending on the size of the space. We may never make use of the additional plumbing or wiring, and it may cost us a little more money up front, but we’re basically future-proofing our real estate.”
Philips International is a family business. The future is important to Seth, his father, Philip, and his brother, Michael.
“We’re long-term holders,” Pilevsky said, “We build for our children. We build to last.”